A Hummingbird hawk-moth

I went to stock up on bird food as the cold weather appears to be limiting the range of food in the landscape, which is especially worrying when the birds are feeding their young. I buy sunflower seeds
in bulk from the Stancombe Beech farm shop near Bisley, which is run by friends of ours.

I had a long chat with the two brothers and their sister who run the farm and then asked them if I could hang about at lunchtime to take more pictures, a thing I regularly do there. I wandered around to watch the swallows and many other birds, as well as the horses in a paddock at the rear. Rain began to fall again so I returned to the now closed shop where I bumped into Keith who was chatting to a friend. We stood by the racks of plants in pots and trays which they sell , and I spotted an unusual flying 'beastie' collecting nectar from the flowers.

As soon as i focused in the gloom I could see it was a quite large moth so I followed it around the plants as it flitted about at high speed.  Keith's friend said he thought it was a hover moth, which I hadn't heard of. Having now looked it up I found it is a Hummingbird hawk-moth which is a relatively new visitor to our countryside.

I have added a few more pictures of it and a few other scenes from the day on this Flickr gallery of mine.


From the Wildlife trust's website:
The hummingbird hawk-moth is a small, day-flying hawk-moth. Hummingbird hawk-moths are summer visitors, migrating here from Southern Europe in variable numbers each year. In some years, they can be common and may frequently be seen in gardens hovering like hummingbirds to feed on the nectar of honeysuckle, red valerian and many other flowers. They can also be found in woodland edge, heath and shrubby habitats. The caterpillar feeds on various species of bedstraw, so the female adult moth lays her eggs on the buds or flowers of these plants.